


The Monster on Meathe

by kappa77



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 10:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11311224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kappa77/pseuds/kappa77
Summary: Markus, Gregor, and Charoth crash on the island of Meathe and discover a monster has been terrorizing the secluded villagers. But is that really all to the story?





	The Monster on Meathe

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this over a year ago [on tumblr](http://kappa776.tumblr.com/post/116053103596) and just realized I never posted it here. So here you go, AU where Ashe and Charoth are swapped.

Markus, in all his wonders and vast collection of information, knew little about Meathe.

Sure he knew some information about the history, geology, topography, and just about any other “–ology” when it came to Meathe, but he didn’t know anything about the people or creatures that inhabited it. They were a private people, only interacting with the outside world for trade. Any other internal affairs were dealt with by them.

So when Thog gave him and Gregor the job of killing a monster that had been messing up trade and production on Meathe, he couldn’t stop talking about it on the trip there and how odd it was for Meathe to ask for outside help.

Gregor, on his part, played the part of a good listener, nodding in all the right places, asking the right questions at the right time (even if they were very Gregor-esque ones), and generally acting like he was invested in the conversation instead of more interested in the sea and the other passenger.

Charoth, or as Gregor called them, “the hellion”, joined their crew last minute. They helped Markus and Gregor out of the sticky situation when they were traveling through Alaran (and oh boy was it sticky. The smell of burning bits stuck on Markus for about a week). Then after they got roped in the business in Altreia, Charoth was a little hesitant to follow Markus and Gregor into another adventure, but they hopped on the boat just before the gangplank was lifted. Gregor didn’t trust them, but was happy they were a good fighter. Markus assumed the distrust came from Charoth’s inhuman appearance. Black eyes, small and hunched over frame, white hair, and thin limbs showed off how they were a spirit folk not human.

Either way, the conversation was a nice distraction from the vast sea surrounding them.

The trip over passed by smoothly until they got with several miles of shore. At first, Markus only felt a slight vibration in the ship, but he waved it off as much as he could. Then the waves started to grow in size, crashing against the sides much more violently than normal. As the boat sailed closer to shore, the waves doubled in size, crashing down in the deck and rocking the boat to and fro and taking thugs off the boat and into the sea. Markus grabbed on to the railing with all his life before being ripped away by Gregor, railing still in his white-knuckled fist. He was thrown into a lifeboat where Charoth already sat, looking stoic as ever. Thog jumped in last as Gregor hastily cut the lines attaching it to the ship. Markus burn the ropes at once with a wave of his hands.

The small boat landed in the churning water with a large splash.  They lasted a couple of seconds in the churning waters before another wave came crashing down, flipping the boat end over end, emptying it of its passengers. Thog broke the surface first, grabbing a stray piece of wood and booking it for the shore. Gregor came up next, but had to dive back down to save Markus. When both of them came up for air, Charoth was perched on another piece of wood, using their stick as a make-shift paddle.

It took a while for them all to get to shore. Once safe, Thog disappeared for sight. Charoth assumed it was to assess damages to the ship and crew while Markus pointed out Thog would probably stab them in the back like every time he’d assign them a task.

With the sun beginning to set, the trio didn’t linger on the beach for long. They scoured the beach for any supplies washed up from the boat and when they found all they could, they set out into the dense forest that covered Meathe.

It was easier than expected to find the first town, which was more of a collection of trees with the trucks carved out to make separate housing. The people were scared, as one would be if their island was terrorized by a monster, but kind as they let them into their village and homes for the night.

When the group asked about the monster, the looks they got were ones of shock and terror.

“It’s twenty feet high!”

“Taller than the tallest tree!”

“Made of rocks, like the Earth came to life!”

“Glowing yellow eyes like that of a cat!”

Markus wrote down each description in a notebook, but there was one part that was repeated so often, he needn’t write it down to remember:

“And it’s all that old man’s fault!”

Some called him the monster’s creator, some said he was the expert on the monster, some just blamed him. Whatever his connection, all three agreed that he was the next person to go to.

It took some days to get to his house, for it was deeper set in the forest, far away from people and from the general consensus of the people, they liked it that way. On their journey, it surprised them that they didn’t encounter the monster once. They only heard its roars and saw the destruction it left in its wake; fallen trees, trampled grass, and broken homes.

The old man’s house, or tree, towered over most of the other trees around it. Everything about it seemed to be larger than the others trees. Markus knocked on the door, a slightly different grain of wood than the truck’s wood. A voice called from inside to come in.

Inside the trunk, it was dimly lit with candlelight. It has a homely feel to it, with one of the arm chairs occupied by an old man with graying hair.

He gave no introduction. “So you’ve come to slay the monster?” he asked wearily.

Markus nodded, “That’s what we were hired for! And we were told you were the expert on it”

The old man snorted, but he didn’t seem amused. “Expert? Not what they called me before, but I’ll come to terms with it.”

Charoth tilted their head. “What do you mean by that?”

The old man looked straight at Charoth, face blank. “Because that monster was my daughter.”

The trio stared in shock at the man, who continued explaining.

“She was supposed to be the Guardian for the island, like her mother was and hers before that. The monster was bound to her so she could do her job more efficiently, so she wouldn’t be a mortal fighting against immortal and supernatural beings.” He paused, gnarled hand closing into a fist. “I was to train her, to teach her how to fight, how to survive, how to heal.”

A sudden scream broke him out of his train of thought. Everyone turned toward the window just in time to see one of the tallest trees fall off in the distance.

The man switched his focus back to the three. He grabbed Gregor’s hand, but addressed the whole group.

“Please, do not fight to kill. The monster over took her, but there has to be some humanity left, I know it, I know my Aesling.”

“That’s her name?” Charoth asked.

“Yes. Please, don’t hurt her, I don’t know what I’d do if-”

Gregor patted the man’s hand with the other that not currently held in a vice-like grip. “Don’t worry, we’ll get your daughter back.”

Markus glanced at Gregor, eyebrow raised. He shrugged, pulling his hand out of the old man’s grip.

“I kill monsters, not innocent people bound to them.”

The old man gave a small sigh of relief. “Thank you. May the Gods be on your side.”

The group nodded their good-byes before each turning to leave. Markus was the last to leave, but before he could do so, the old man spoke once again.

“She loved singing,” he said simply, not to anyone in particular.

Markus gave a slight nod before leaving.

It took only a few hours to find the monster, but when they did, it was hard to miss it. It stood in a clearing, ten feet high and wider than the thickest tree. Moss climbed up the rocks than made up the monster. It looked at the group and with one large fist, swung at them.

As the three scattered, Markus noticed someone following the monster. Her golden eyes were wide and glazed over. She looked as if she was sleep-walking. Her white hair blew back with the wind the monster created by swinging its fists. Her clothes were basic; a green tunic, navy trousers, a green cloak, but slightly tattered with some leaves and twigs sticking out. She had dark blue tattoos on her legs and abdomen, surrounding her biceps, and traveling up her face.

As Gregor pulled out his glaive and Charoth readied their staff, Markus pulled out his guitar. Charoth gave him a confused look as Gregor charged the monster.

“Don’t worry!” Markus called out to them. “You guys take care of the monster, I’ll take care of the daughter!”

Charoth nodded before entering the fray silently. Markus turned back to the girl and sprinted forward so he was nearly face to face with her.

“Hold on, don’t step any farther,” he said, his charm turning on instantly. The girl stopped, gaze off somewhere off of his shoulder.

“You’re name’s Aesling, right?” Something flickered in her gaze, but it was gone within moments.

“Well then,” he said, strumming his guitar, “I hope you like acoustic.”

She closed her eyes as he began to strum his guitar. It took a few false starts before he began to sing.

“ _Runaway, runaway, my love, my lass._  
_Come away from the pain._  
 _Get away from which hurts you,_  
 _And that which causes you strain.”_

Behind him, Markus heard the growling of the monster and the shouting of Gregor. He sang louder.

“ _Doesn’t matter if you were born into it,_  
_You don’t have to live with it._  
 _Do what you think is right,_  
 _Not what you were taught.”_

Aesling’s eyes became clearer and Markus could hear more strikes on the monster and less on his friends. He smiled, getting more into the song and even adding a little dance to it.

“ _Just listen to my song,_  
_If you want to, sing along._  
 _Now let go of that monstrosity_  
 _And come and dance with me!”_

Aesling smiled and her eyes cleared fully of their haziness. Before she could say anything, a green spark shot between her and the monster. Without a growl, the monster disappeared, as if it flew along the path of the green spark. Aesling shivered and when the monster had fully dissipated, her eyes rolled back and she started to fall. Markus quickly dove to catch her, but not before swinging his guitar to rest on his back.

“Oooh, easy there, easy,” he mumbled, setting down Aesling on the ground.

Gregor and Charoth ran over to where Markus and Aesling were.

Gregor bent over her. “Is she-?”

“Yes,” Markus replied, absentmindedly stroking her hair, picking out any twigs and tangles.

“Is she hurt?” Charoth asked, kneeling down beside her.

“Physically? Yes. Mentally? Well, we’ll have to see when she wakes up.”

It took about an hour for Aesling to wake up. In that time, Gregor cleaned and sharpened his glaive while Markus leaned back, strumming a few chords. When she woke up, Markus resisted the urge to crowd around her and merely got closer. Aesling looked around blearily.

“Gods…” she groaned, “What happened?”

Gregor spoke up, “You-” Before he could say another word, Markus slapped a hand over his mouth.

“You passed out. We, or really, you got rid of the monster with our help.”

Aesling stared at him. “Monster? I- oh shit.” Her eyes widened and she rubbed her hands over her face, ignoring how dirty they were.

“How many people did I kill?” she asked.

Markus and Gregor glanced at each other, but it was Charoth who spoke up first.

They placed a hand on Aesling’s shoulder. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is you’ve gained your humanity again.”

Aesling nodded absentmindedly, lost in thought. “There was… music. Singing and a guitar…”

Markus took his hand of Gregor’s mouth and waved. “Yeah, that was me. My name’s Markus Velafi.” He held his hand out.

She tentatively shook it. “I-I’m Aesling, but call me Ashe.”

“I’m Charoth.”

Ashe nodded, “Charoth… got it.”

“And I’m Gregor, who would really like a bandage.” Markus looked to Gregor and for the first time noticed the large scrape Gregor had on his arm up his shoulder.

Ashe’s eyes widened. She pushed herself to s seated position and waved Gregor over to her. “Come here, I can help you.”

Gregor gave a look to Markus before walking over to Ashe. She motioned for him to sit, and he did. Before he could ask, she grabbed onto him, one hand on his shoulder and one on his arm. With a green spark, his skin began to heal. Gregor and the others gawked at his arm. When she was done and let go, she looked a bit more tired Gregor continued to stare as he flexed his arm.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” he asked, still gaping at his arm.

Ashe shrugged, “I didn’t. I’ve always had that ability.”

“So you’re magic?” Markus asked.

“No it’s… not that.”

Charoth turned to Markus. “Maybe the interrogation can happen at another time.”

He nodded, “Yeah… hey Ashe, have you ever thought of a life of adventuring?”


End file.
